To Build a Spy Camera? Or Not to Build?

Nowadays professional spy equipment is no longer a luxury. Various spy cameras featuring a number of options allow keeping an eye on your employees, spouse, visitors, nanny, kids… giving you an idea what is going on in your absence. Spy cameras are always compact and designed to be hidden almost anywhere. Though to get professional spy equipment is easy and not so expensive these days, some enthusiasts prefer to build a spy camera themselves.

If you want to build a spy camera, you have to arm yourself with patience, because it’s quite a challenging and even costly venture. Just anybody cannot do that. You have to possess some knowledge and experience in this field, not to mention your free time. Building a spy camera is somewhat like building your own PC. Theoretically, it can be done provided that you are able to find all the details required and set them together. Practically, your construction may fail to work if the components are incompatible, or the quality of images will be bad, and you will have no technical support in case anything goes wrong with your camera.

Basically, all spy cameras use a pinhole lens as it is tiny and almost invisible to the eye. Building a pinhole camera is comparatively easy and does not require great investments. You can use even garbage like any broken equipment or consumer wastes (coffee cans, oatmeal containers, jewelry boxes and so on…). The fact that you will not require an expensive lens for your simple pinhole camera is also a plus.

There are numerous resources describing how to build a pinhole camera in detailed, even step-by-step instructions. But will an amateur pinhole camera be suitable for surveillance purposes? Obviously, not. First of all, you will hardly be able to build a spy camera that is small. That means it will be impossible to hide it effectively. A camera visible to everyone is not a spy camera. Secondly, you may succeed in taking reasonably clear pictures (even color ones) with your pinhole camera, but not recording a video. A long exposure time required to catch an image cannot serve spying purpose. Therefore, a self-made spy camera fails to be an effective means of hidden surveillance.

Yet, if you are very much determined and still want to build a spy camera of your own, you may consider buying a professional kit for making cameras.

Basically, they already include a tiny spy video/photo camera with a pinhole lens, so you are spared of the most complicated work. You are free to choose the components to enhance your spy system. That is, you can opt for a wired or wireless system, more or less powerful transmitter and receiver, and select other parts according to their characteristics and your needs. Professionals will help you select parts which will adjust to each other. With spy camera kits you will require minimal set-up and can cut on the overall camera cost.

Another variant is a kit where all the parts of a spy camera body are included separately. That is, you will have to construct it yourself. A manual attached is a helpful thing. Normally, there are spare parts available as well in case you build something wrong or break. As a result you can have a comparatively cheap and reliable camera at your disposal. It is only up to you to decide if time and efforts are worth it. If you want to build a spy camera yourself, maybe you should think about buying a spy camera kit. Because after all, buying a ready made professional spy camera may turn to be more beneficial than building one yourself.

Has 17 years of experience in security & surveillance field. Helping people to secure their homes and protect their families. Introducing latest spy tech, PI toys, and providing tips on personal privacy.